The mask is off but Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in four Star Wars films and various spin-offs and television specials, is determined to remain hidden in plain view. ''We're here to talk about Supanova,'' he says gruffly soon after we start chatting, ''not me''.

Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars films is in Melbourne for a fan convention. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

For those not in the know, Supanova is a fan convention, expected to draw somewhere north of 20,000 people to the Showgrounds in Melbourne this weekend. Mayhew is part of a line-up that includes former Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner, 2001: A Space Odyssey stars Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea, Lucy Xena Lawless and The Walking Dead's Michael Rooker.

Fans come to mingle, to collect autographs (Mayhew's costs $50), and to have their photos taken with the stars of whichever fanboy (or fangirl) franchise they favour. For $40, you can get a photo of Mayhew, whose height is officially recorded as 221 centimetres – that's 7'3'' in the old money; for $80, you can get one of Mayhew with Verne ''Mini-Me'' Troyer, who stands 81 centimetres tall.

''Convention life is wonderful,'' says Mayhew, who attended his first some time in the early 1990s and will this year rack up at least 10 of them. ''I like to be amongst the fans, getting the feedback of what they want out of the movies.''

He says he's formed real friendships with many of the actors, and even with some of the fans. ''We know a lot of people from various garrisons of the 501st, Darth Vader's Stormtroopers,'' he says.

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Surely a Wookiee isn't allowed to be friends with Stormtroopers?

''Oh yeah. I love pulling arms off of Stormtroopers. It's great fun.''

For many of the star attractions, the signing and photo fees are a crucial income stream. Not all of them receive royalties from the films or shows that made them famous, though Mayhew declines to reveal whether he does, saying ''that's between me and my bank manager''.

What he does say, though, is that the height that led to his fame has come at a price – a small fortune, in fact.

''You're talking to a man with the most expensive knees in the world,'' he says, referring to the series of operations he had recently in a bid to get him out of a wheelchair, at a cost he puts at close to $1 million. ''They're bigger than the average. I don't get off-the-shelf knees.''

He thinks he is about four weeks from being where he wants to be in his recuperation, but for now he walks with a cane (shaped like a light sabre, of course).

A New York filmmaker has followed Mayhew's struggle to get back on his feet for a crowd-funded documentary called Standing in the Stars. Mayhew says he had ''mixed feelings'' about the project, ''but I knew it had to be for the good''.

He describes himself as a giant, but says he does not have giantism. ''I don't have the big head,'' he says. ''There was an overactive pituitary gland ... I had treatment when I was about 15 that slowed it down, they stopped it.''

Without that, he says, ''I'd have been eight foot. Life would have been terrible. Our interview would not have taken place.''

Had the circumstances been different, Mayhew might have played basketball; instead, he worked as a medical orderly in his native England, both before and after Star Wars. ''It was nice to being among people you could help,'' he says. ''You could do things – reach the top shelf, pick a little old lady up, put her in a wheelchair and whisk her away. There are a lot of pleasant memories. I do a job because I want to, not because I have to.''

Before we wrap, there's one more question I have to ask, even though I've been warned not to. Reports surfaced this week that he has been cast in Star Wars Episode VII, which is now in production in London.

''What was the question?'' he asks, reverting to the angry Wookiee demeanour of the first minutes of our chat.

Is it true?

''I cannot deny and I cannot confirm either.''

I figure it's best I don't push it. The force may not be entirely with him, but only a dummy would provoke a giant with a light sabre in his hand.

Supanova is at the Melbourne Showgrounds until Sunday. Details: supanova.com.au